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Friday, June 14, 2013

An eerie chat!

The night before I was reading a book and doing some research parallely to write an article on celebrities who died in a mysterious way. Just then my mobile blinked with five add requests on we chat. First one showed a name Jiah Khan and the number was 03062013. Second one was from Marilyn Monroe , third from silk smitha, fourth from Divya Bharathi and fifth from Parveen Babi. Every one had strange phone numbers which looked like dates. I got scared to accept the requests. I was feeling too jittery but still gathered courage and added all of them.

Jiah Khan :"Hello Afshan. Hope you are doing good."

Me: "I am good but who are you and how did you know my number?"

Jiah Khan : "I am of course the actress Jiah Khan. We just realized you were trying to write an article on celebrities who had an untimely death. Thought we could talk to you!"

Me: " But how can you be online?!"

Jiah Khan: "Worry about it later. Don't you want to talk to us?"

I sat with all my attention on my we chat window and responded to Jiah.

Me : "Of course. You can talk and hello all of you!"

Marilyn , Silk Smitha , Divya Bharathi , Parveen Babi : "Hello dear!"

Me : "It feels so weird to even talk to you all. I feel so bad that you all had to die in a mysterious way!"

Divya Bharathi : "Ya! God's ways are mysterious at times!"

Me : " You were my favorite Divya! I used to adore you."

Divya: "I know. Feels good to hear it anyway :) ."

Me : "You died at the age of 19. I felt so bad. If you were in movies for some more time I am sure you would have given a tough competition to all!"

Divya: "Thats a compliment. Thanks!"

Me: " Apologies in advance for my question. Was Sajid Nadiadwala responsible for your death or was it a suicide or an accident?"Divya : "Apology accepted but lets just say fate killed me. I was like a candle which glows its brightest before it dies!"

Me: "I am really sorry Divya. Do you know that after your death you were immortalized in Iran as a beauty queen. You still live in our hearts!"

Divya: "Thanks a lot!"

Me: " You are just 25 years old Jiah and you committed suicide. Why were you so frustrated :( ?"

Me: "You died early too at the age of 35. I will not ask the reasons and bother you but I want to appreciate you. You indeed were successful till you lived!"

Silk : "Ya success till it lasts gives you name and fame and getting true love and respect is next to impossible in film industry!"

Parveen Babi : " Ya people don't even recognize you when your glamour fades. They don't even knock at your door to even show pity. My body was found by police 3 days after my death. Even my last rituals were not done as per my wish. I was a Muslim but got converted to Christianity but my relatives buried me as per Islamic rites"

Me: "I am sorry to hear that Parveen. You were a role model to many you know. Your westernized features revolutionized bollywood. Jawaan-e-Jaanemann is sung by many till date"

Parveen : "Thanks for your appreciation . Stardom or the thoughts of it don't entice me any more."

Jiah : "Neither me!"

Marilyn , Silk , Divya : "Neither us!"

Marilyn , Silk , Divya , Jiah , Parveen : "O. K. Afshan. You have a good time and stay happy. Its time to leave now!"

Me: "Please stay for some more time. I want to ask few more questions."

Jiah : "Now we have some other important work to do. If we want to contact you again we will add you using the same number. Till then take care!"

As she typed that last sentence all their names disappeared from the chat. They were not in my contacts list any more. I did not even say bye. As I watched the screen I felt that my kitchen was glowing bright . It was so bright that I got momentarily blind. When I slowly lifted my head to look in that direction I could see the back of five women who stood hand in hand. They slowly vanished from there. The next day it came in headlines of TOI that many people saw spirits of few women in their residential areas during different hours of the night. My article was half way and I was still in shock remembering the chat from the night before. I realized the phone numbers were their death dates. Just then my mobile rang with a beep sound and I got an add request on We chat from 29072004 with a name Nafisa Joseph flashing bright . . . .

The recent suicide and many other related articles I read made me write this post. How many ever questions we ask, the answer to why people commit suicide is always complex. Hope the suicide rates drop and that momentary decision to commit suicide gets altered!

Wow afshan your post took me down a very different journey I have myself read about all these women for their mysterious deaths. I know as a person such things draw us more to think about these things more. All the best for the contest :-)

U know, most of these women meant something to me at some part in my life ... Parveen Babi was simply the most beautiful woman I hd ever seen.... Silk's movie was the first movie I had seen after my engg... I had a life size poster of Monroe in my bedroom for the most part of my graduation... both Jiah and Divya surprised me in some way or the other :)